Top 5 Toughest Sports

So We’ve recently been looking into what the top 5 toughest sports in the world are. It’s a tough call and there are many differing opinions. Here’s my top 5 and why.

5. Rugby – Hard training needing speed, endurance and strength. On top of that your body takes a battering for over an hour out on the pitch.

4. Ironman Triathlon – For obvious reasons. Insane endurance required and probably the mentally toughest sport out there.

3. Water Polo – This ranks high on a number of lists. In many respects it’s a lot like playing rugby in a swimming pool while many people try to drown you.

2. Boxing and Thai boxing- I has to put both of these together since they are similar in aspects. I think overall Thai boxing requires a greater skills set and the body takes much more punishment from kicks, knees and elbows. However, in professional boxing you receive many more blows to the head at machine guns speed.

1. MMA and Wrestling- Ok, so I had to give a joint number 1. I’d agree that the competition of MMA is harder than wrestling since the fight is much longer and you receive a hell of a lot more punishment. However wrestling training is more intense than any other sport I’ve ever done. There’s no relaxing when sparring in wrestling. It’s all out the whole time with no rest. Whilst rounds are only 2 minutes, you train at competition intensity throughout the training session.

Honourable mentions:

Gymnastics – tough as hell and long hours of training.

Lacrosse & Ice Hockey – As tough as other tough team sports, made even tougher due to competitors weilding big sticks. This didn’t make it to the top 5 since they wear a lot of protection.

Australian rules football – another tough sport worthy of honourable mention. Some may argue it’s tougher than rugby.